Oct 5, 2015

We walked back to our rooms refreshed and rejuvenated after
our walk in the woods. As we neared the hotel, we saw a huge monkey sitting on
a window ledge. It was soon joined by another one from inside the room. It had
food packets in its hands and its mouth was smeared with something white. Which
idiot would leave their window open I asked my mom before realizing that the
window was ours. Luckily some of the hotel people had spotted the monkey too
and they raced upstairs, grabbing some long poles enroute. It took them quite a
while to drive them away and the room looked as if the hurricane had swept
through it. Thankfully the door to the sleeping area was closed so our luggage
was safe but the monkeys had gone through our food very methodically, opening
packs of biscuits and namkeens, eating what they liked and throwing away what
they didn’t. Chocolate biscuits and powdered milk seemed to be a great favorite
but they had spat out the aam papad and haldiraam namkeen. The room had a trail of half eaten biscuits,
interspersed with another white trail of powdered milk and sugar. It took half
an hour and the combined effort of three of the cleaning staff to restore
order.

The wind whistling through the trees and the chirping birds
woke us up early the next morning. There were no human sounds. We trooped down
to the now empty lawn. The sun was yet to rise and the hills were still dark
smudges. It was cloudy and the hills were swathed in mist but the sun made very
valiant efforts to peep through it. No one was about except us. It was quiet and
very serene.

Later, as we waited for the usual tourist hoards to descend
on us we discussed how to spend the days away from the maddening crowds. But
surprisingly there were hardly any visitors for the next two days. The hotel
staff told us that the rush is usually limited to Sundays.

We walked through the woods, deep, dark, Tranquil. The great
pines and deodars were bent with age; almost covering the narrow path with
their leaves and forming a canopy that made you feel as if you were walking in
a cool green cave. To be honest, we could see the bare patches where
deforestation had taken place, the noise of traffic was sometimes louder than
those of the birds but I could still make myself comfortable between the roots of
a tree, sprawl on the plush velvety grass and read. If we listened carefully we
could still hear the streams murmuring in the undergrowth and the wind talking
to the pine trees. There were still wild
berries to be plucked from the bushes and conversations with red cheeked kids
on their way to school.

The people who enjoyed the holiday most were my parents. Frankly,
if left to myself I would have chosen to holiday higher up in the mountains,
closer to the mighty peaks and snow rather than a hill resort. But this holiday
was as much for my parents as it was for me and it warmed my heart to see them take
longs walks together or spend time over endless cups of Kangra tea and books.

LOLing reading the incident with the monkeys! We also had a monkey incident when we visited the Sundarbans - luckily, the monkey, who had squeezed through the half-closed door of the person next to us, only made off with some Haldiram laddoos!!My parents too love such vacations - they have always been great travelelers, but now, instead of jumping around from one sightseeing spot to another, they prefer somewhere quiet, bereft of too many people and where they can sit and read books in the open air or take leisurely walks!

Oh gosh! Those monkeys. On our trip to Elephanta islands off Mumbai, a monkey had snatched a chips packet from toddler Sid who howled like crazy. Your parents' picture warmed my heart. Yes, companionship is about growing old together. Sorry for being so late here. Don't know how I missed this post.